Hemostatic injection
How to stop bleeding in 15 seconds
It is necessary to insert gauze into the wound and press it to stop the bleeding, and sometimes the doctor picks at your body at a depth of more than ten centimeters. If the blood does not stop after three minutes, the gauze should be removed and repeated all over again. This is so unpleasant that doctors recommend first of all to remove his weapon away from the fighter.
Even with emergency care, many nevertheless die from blood loss, and bleeding is the main cause of death on the battlefield. "Gauze bandages are not suitable for severe cases," explains John Steinbaugh, a former US Special Operations Command doctor who treated wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. After retiring from the Armed Forces in April 2012 after being shot in the head, he went to work at the Oregon startup RevMedx, in which a small group of veterans, scientists and engineers are trying to improve ways to stop bleeding.
Recently, RevMedx applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a request to approve a miniature XStat device – a modified syringe that inserts a sponge with a special coating into the wound. It not only increases the chances of survival, but also allows you to do without unnecessary suffering.
XStat (photo by RevMedx).
I suggested the idea... foam for car tires. "We realized: we need something that can be put inside and that expands after that," says Mr. Steinbaugh. "But coping with blood pressure was not easy: the blood just pushed out the foam."
Therefore, enthusiasts tested another idea. They bought some very ordinary sponges and began to cut them into pieces of different sizes until they found the most suitable for filling wounds. The tests on the animal were successful. After seeing the first prototypes, the Pentagon allocated $5 million for further research.
Kitchen sponges are not suitable for injection. We needed a sterile material, biocompatible and rapidly increasing in volume. The firm settled on a sponge made of cellulose and coated with chitosan, a blood–clotting antimicrobial substance from crustacean shells. To prevent the sponge from accidentally remaining inside the body, its pieces are marked with crosses, which are revealed by X-ray examination.
The sponge works quickly: after just 15 seconds, it expands and fills the entire cavity, creating enough pressure to stop the heavy bleeding. And since the sponge sticks to the wet surface, it is not pushed out by blood. "The bleeding stops even before you apply a bandage," Mr. Steinbaugh emphasizes.
It remained to solve the most difficult problem – how to place the sponge in the wound. On the battlefield, doctors have to carry everything with them (in addition to a heavy bulletproof vest). Therefore, something light and compact was required. Therefore, a polycarbonate syringe with a diameter of 30 mm was developed, which is stored with a piston inside to save space. The doctor pulls out the plunger, inserts the syringe into the wound and then squeezes the contents as close as possible to the punctured artery.
Three disposable XStat syringes take the place of five packs of gauze. A smaller version with a diameter of 12 mm has also been prepared for narrow wounds. Now one syringe costs about $ 100, but industrial production is likely to make it cheaper.
If the FDA approves XStat, a dressing for narrow wounds will appear on the battlefield for the first time. Gauze – a common remedy for wounds received from small arms and artillery weapons – is approved by the FDA only for external use, but, as Mr. Steinbaugh explains, everyone knows that if you get shot, you need to shove as much gauze into the wound as possible. The Pentagon has asked the FDA to authorize XStat as soon as possible...
Last summer, RevMedx and the Oregon Health and Science University received an initial investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a variety of XStat to stop postpartum bleeding. In the future, RevMedx is going to develop sponges decomposed by microorganisms, so that there is no need to remove them from the body. For large wounds (for example, from mines), a gauze is created from the material of these sponges.
Prepared based on the materials of Popular Science: How A Simple New Invention Seals A Gunshot Wound In 15 Seconds.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.02.2014